SIT reconstructs Ishrat encounter for 3rd time

Ahmedabad: The Special Investigation Team
probing the 2004 police encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three
others, along with forensic experts, on Saturday reconstructed
events that took place on the day of the incident for the
third time at the original site near Kotarpur area here.
SIT chairman R R Verma, along with the teams from All
India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) and Central
Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, reconstructed
the encounter for the third time.

"The reconstruction was required to be carried out for
the third time, as there were some further queries with regard
to some specific points on how the injuries were caused," SIT
officials said.

"The process has continued till late in the evening,"
they said.

The reconstruction of the event was first carried out on
April 17 and then on July 7 this year, with the help of the
same agencies-- CFSL and AIIMS.
For the reconstruction of the police encounter, SIT
members Mohan Jha and Satish Verma were present. The SIT has
been appointed by the Gujarat High Court, to find out whether
the encounter was fake or genuine and has been asked by the
court to furnish the final report by November.

Meanwhile, CFSL experts also conducted psycho-analysis
test of three witnesses, who have turned hostile.

"The psycho-analysis test of three witnesses, who turned
hostile has been conducted," an SIT official said.

During the last hearing of the case on October 7, Verma
had told the court that they wanted to conduct psycho-analysis
test on some of the witnesses, who had turned hostile and the
CFSL has given them time to conduct the test.

Ahmedabad Crime Branch, after the encounter, had claimed
that the deceased were members of LeT, who had come to kill
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The probe in the case is being supervised directly by the
high court, which constituted the SIT last year to investigate
genuineness of the encounter, after petitions were filed by
Ishrat`s mother Shamima Kausar and Gopinath Pillai, father of
Pranesh, in this regard.